The Shakespeare Book

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CONTRIBUTORS

STANLEY WELLS, CONSULTANT EDITOR JOHN FARNDON

Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, Honorary President of John Farndon is a Royal Literary Fellow at Anglia Ruskin
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, is Professor Emeritus University in Cambridge and an author, playwright,
of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, composer, and poet. He has written many international
Honorary Governor Emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare bestsellers such as Do You Think You’re Clever? and
Company, and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College Oxford. translated into English verse the plays of Lope de Vega
He is general editor of the Oxford and Penguin editions and the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. He taught the history
of Shakespeare and co-editor of The Oxford Companion to of drama at the Actor’s Studio, studied playwriting at
Shakespeare. His books include Shakespeare for All Time, Central School of Speech and Drama, and is now Assessor
Shakespeare, Sex, and Love, and Great Shakespeare Actors. for new plays for London’s OffWestEnd Theatre Awards.

ANJNA CHOUHAN JANE KINGSLEY-SMITH

Anjna Chouhan is Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the Jane Kingsley-Smith is a Reader at Roehampton University,
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. She has published articles on London. She has written two monographs—Shakespeare’s
Victorian theater, farce, and religious stage props, and edited Drama of Exile and Cupid in Early Modern Literature and
a sourcebook on the Victorian actor-manager Henry Irving. Culture—and most recently edited for Penguin John
She spoke on the BBC program Great British Rail Journeys Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil, and
about Shakespeare in the 19th century. She contributes to John Ford’s The Broken Heart and ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore.
the Cambridge School Shakespeare digital resource. She is a regular lecturer at Shakespeare’s Globe, London.

GILLIAN DAY NICK WALTON

Dr. Gillian Day lectures at the Shakespeare Birthplace Nick Walton is Shakespeare Courses Development Manager
Trust and York University. She has taught English and at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon,
Drama in Britain, North America, and Scandinavia, and and serves as Executive Secretary to the International
held visiting lectureships at the universities of Helsinki Shakespeare Association. He has written introductory
and Düsseldorf. Her publications include King Richard III material for the Penguin editions of Timon of Athens and
in the Arden Shakespeare at Stratford series (as editor), Love’s Labour’s Lost, and is co-author of The Shakespeare
and the introduction to Henry VI Part III and Wallbook. He has worked closely with professional theater
the performance history of Richard III in editions companies at home and abroad, and has been a guest
of the plays for Penguin Shakespeare. speaker at the British Museum and the National Theatre.

CONTENTS

10 INTRODUCTION 44 This brawl today… 74 Hunting he loved, but love
shall send, between he laughed to scorn
THE FREELANCE the red rose and the Venus and Adonis
WRITER white, a thousand
souls to death and 78 Who buys a minute’s
1589–1594 deadly night mirth to wail a week
Henry VI Part 1 The Rape of Lucrece

48 Why, there they are,
both bakèd in this pie
Titus Andronicus

54 Made glorious summer
by this son of York
Richard III

62 To die is all as common
as to live
Edward III

68 What error drives
our eyes and
ears amiss?
The Comedy of Errors

24 In love, who respects
friend?
The Two Gentlemen of Verona

30 I know now how to tame
a shrew
The Taming of the Shrew

36 The commons, like
an angry hive of bees
that want their leader,
scatter up and down
Henry VI Part 2

40 I can smile, and murder
whiles I smile
Henry VI Part 3

THE LORD
CHAMBERLAIN’S
MAN

1594–1603

86 Who can sever love
from charity?
Love’s Labour’s Lost

92 Down, down I come,
like glist’ring Phaethon
Richard II

100 A pair of star-crossed
lovers
Romeo and Juliet

110 The course of true love
never did run smooth
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

118 There is no sure 124 If you prick us, do we 154 Out on thee, seeming!
foundation set on blood not bleed? I will write against it
The Life and Death The Merchant of Venice Much Ado About
of King John Nothing

132 Honour is a mere 162 Once more unto the
scutcheon breach, dear friends,
Henry IV Part 1 once more
Henry V
140 Wives may be merry,
and yet honest, too 170 There is a tide in the
The Merry Wives of Windsor affairs of men which,
taken at the flood,
146 We have heard leads on to fortune
the chimes at midnight Julius Caesar
Henry IV Part 2

THE KING’S MAN

1603–1613

232 Man, proud man, dressed
in a little brief authority
Measure for Measure

240 Beware, my lord, of
jealousy. It is the
green-ey’d monster
Othello

250 A man more sinned
against than sinning
King Lear

260 The middle of humanity
thou never knew’st,
but the extremity of
both ends
Timon of Athens

178 All the world’s a stage, and 214 I scorn to change my
all the men and women state with kings’
merely players Shakespeare’s Sonnets
As You Like It
224 That false fire which
188 The slings and arrows in his cheek so glowed
of outrageous fortune A Lover’s Complaint
Hamlet
225 Truth and beauty
198 Youth’s a stuff will buried be
not endure The Phoenix and Turtle
Twelfth Night
226 With selfsame hand,
206 War and lechery self reasons, and self
confound all right, would shark on you
Troilus and Cressida Sir Thomas More

308 Thou metst with things
dying, I with things
new-born
The Winter’s Tale

316 Hang there like fruit, my
soul, till the tree die
Cymbeline

324 We are such stuff as
dreams are made on
The Tempest

332 Farewell, a long
farewell, to all my
greatness!
Henry VIII

338 Is there record of any
two that loved better
than we do, Arcite?
The Two Noble Kinsmen

266 Blood will have blood
Macbeth

276 Age cannot wither her, 344 INDEX
nor custom stale her
infinite variety
Antony and Cleopatra

286 The web of our life is of 352 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

a mingled yarn, good and
ill together
All’s Well That Ends Well

294 This world to me is but a
ceaseless storm whirring
me from my friends
Pericles, Prince of Tyre

300 What is the city but
the people?
Coriolanus

INTRODU

CTION

12 SHAKESPEARE

B orn more than four and a Roman history, to the most maiden name was Arden, came
half centuries ago, William profound tragedies, including from a more prosperous background.
Shakespeare (1564–1616) is Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. They lived in the house on Henley
generally acknowledged to be the Street, Stratford, now known
greatest imaginative writer in Far from dwindling with the as Shakespeare’s Birthplace, a
the English language. He was a passage of time, Shakespeare’s place of pilgrimage for hundreds
major poet, writing two narrative reputation and influence have of thousands of visitors from all
poems, 154 sonnets, and other grown from year to year. His works, parts of the world every year. They
verses. But above all, he was a in their original texts, in translation had two daughters who died in
poetic dramatist, the author or into most of the world’s languages, infancy before William came along,
part-author of almost 40 plays, and in an enormous range of and went on to have two more
which range from the most delicate adaptations, are read, taught, and daughters and three more sons.
of romantic comedies, such as A performed all over the globe. They The youngest, Edmund, was 16
Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You have influenced countless other years younger than William. Like
Like It, and Twelfth Night, through works of art, and nobody with a his older brother, Edmund became
a series of plays about English and claim to a liberal education can an actor in London. Very little is
afford to be ignorant of them.
All the world’s a stage, This book offers a comprehensive Shall I compare thee to a
And all the men and women guide to his plays and poems, summer’s day?
concentrating on their content
merely players. and form, while also considering Thou art more lovely and
They have their exits and their reception and influence. more temperate.

their entrances, Shakespeare and Stratford Rough winds do shake the
And one man in his time William Shakespeare was baptized darling buds of May,
in Holy Trinity Church in the town
plays many parts of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, And summer’s lease hath
Jaques on Wednesday April 26, 1564. His all too short a date.
exact date of birth is not known, Sonnet 18
As You Like It but since the 18th century, his
birthday has been celebrated
on April 23rd.

Shakespeare’s father, John, came
from farming stock and worked in
Stratford as a “whitawer”—a tanner
of white leather—and glover (glove
maker). John’s wife, Mary, whose

INTRODUCTION 13

known about him except that he quotes from a textbook prescribed his father’s workshop. When he
died at the age of 27, a few months for use in every such school. It is was only 18, toward the end of
after the death in infancy of his surely the most autobiographical 1582, he married Anne Hathaway.
illegitimate son. scene in all Shakespeare’s plays. She was 26. A daughter, Susanna,
was baptized six months later.
John Shakespeare was a Marriage and children Twins, Hamnet and Judith,
businessman who played a major As a boy, Shakespeare would followed in late January or early
part in civic life, becoming an have been able to attend and February 1585. Hamnet died
alderman and rising to the rank act in plays in Stratford. Touring and was buried in Stratford on
of bailiff or mayor in 1568. At this professional companies regularly August 11, 1596. The location
time, churchgoing was required by visited the town during his of his grave is unknown.
law. Both at church and at home, boyhood and youth, playing in
Shakespeare would have gained the guildhall, while local amateurs William and Anne had no more
the familiarity with the Bible, the put on entertainment, especially children. Except for a passing
Book of Common Prayer, and at Whitsuntide. mention in a law case of 1587,
the Books of Homilies (sermons) there is a gap in the record of
that is apparent from his writings. Shakespeare probably left Shakespeare’s life from the birth
school when he was about 15. We of the twins to 1592 (when he is
Stratford was a market town don’t know what he did for a living first credited as a writer). The best
with a splendid church, a well- at first, but he may have helped in guess is that at some point he
established grammar school where joined a theater company—perhaps
education for boys (only) was free, Articles are borrowed of the even one of those that visited
fine houses, and townsmen who pronoun, and be thus declined. Stratford—as actor or writer or
were educated and wealthy. The Singulariter nominativo: ‘hic, both. His wife and children appear
records for the school are lost, but to have stayed in Stratford.
Shakespeare’s writings show that haec, hoc’.
he had a typical grammar-school William In 1596, the College of Heralds
education of the period. Such granted Shakespeare a coat of
schools provided a rigorous training The Merry Wives of Windsor arms, bestowing on him and his
in oratory, rhetoric, and classical descendants the status of gentleman
literature comparable to that of and the right to be termed “Master.”
university graduates studying His father died in 1601, presumably
Classics today. From an early age, at more than 70 years old, and
the boys were required to write was buried in Stratford. In 1602,
and speak in Latin. In a scene (4.1) Shakespeare spent the great
in The Merry Wives of Windsor, a sum of £320 for the purchase
boy named William is put through of 107 acres of land in
his paces in Latin grammar, and Old Stratford. In 1605, he was ❯❯

14 SHAKESPEARE

wealthy enough to pay £440 for Shakespeare’s plays to be printed, a “sharer”—a businessman with a
an interest in the Stratford tithes, but it seems certain that he must financial interest in the company’s
entitling him to a share in the have written a number of other success. Plays were normally the
area’s farming income, which plays before then. property of the acting company for
would have brought him an annual which they were written, rather
income of around £40. In London, In 1595, he is named along with than of their author. There was,
he lived only in modest lodgings. two actors—Richard Burbage and however, a reading public for
His daughter Susanna married the Will Kemp—as having been paid dramatic texts, and about half of
physician John Hall in 1607; their for performances during the Shakespeare’s plays were printed
only child, Elizabeth, was born nine previous Christmas season at the in his lifetime. These, along with
months later. Judith married a court of Queen Elizabeth I by a the missing texts, were assembled
vintner named Thomas Quiney, company of players formed late the by his colleagues after he died and
with whom she had three children, previous year under the patronage published as the First Folio in 1623.
all of whom died young. Elizabeth of the Lord Chamberlain, Lord
Hall died in 1670, and was Hunsdon. From then on, he was the The theatrical scene
Shakespeare’s last descendant. resident playwright of the most Shakespeare grew up during a
important theater company in the period of increasing stability and
Shakespeare’s first texts land. No other playwright of the prosperity in England. Queen
The first reference to Shakespeare period had so long and stable a Elizabeth I was unifying the
as a writer comes in 1592, by relationship with a single company. nation, and patriotic sentiment
which time he was well established Shakespeare was also an actor and was growing. The arts of music,
on the London theatrical scene. painting, architecture, and
In 1593, his name appears in print What win I if I gain literature were flourishing. Great
for the first time, not as a dramatist the thing I seek? works of classical and continental,
but as the author of the narrative especially Italian, literature were
poem Venus and Adonis. His A dream, a breath, a froth appearing in translation and
second narrative poem, The of fleeting joy. finding a wide readership.
Rape of Lucrece, appeared in Many of these were to provide
the following year. These poems The Rape of Lucrece Shakespeare with inspiration and
were exceptionally successful, with plot material for his plays.
and were reprinted more frequently
than any of Shakespeare’s plays. In Both English dramatic literature
part, this is because plays were and the theatrical profession
written primarily to be acted, so developed greatly during the early
many never reached print. In 1594, years of Shakespeare’s working life.
Titus Andronicus was the first of A major development came in 1576
with the construction of the first

INTRODUCTION 15

successful professional playhouse, and in the popularity of theatrical In 1609, the company started to
called simply the Theatre, in entertainment encouraged use a more exclusive indoor theater,
London. A new generation of the writing of longer and more the Blackfriars, which had more
dramatic writers emerged, ambitious plays, interweaving elaborate stage machinery. These
including playwrights such as John plot with subplot, tragedy with new possibilities are reflected in
Lyly and George Peele, with whom comedy, and diversifying with the stage effects required by, for
Shakespeare was to collaborate songs, dances, masques, and instance, Cymbeline and The
on Titus Andronicus. Figures from spectacular effects made possible Tempest. Indoor theaters were lit
the later 1580s, such as Thomas by the increasing sophistication by candles, and as the candles
Kyd, Robert Greene, and above all of theatrical design. required frequent trimming to keep
Christopher Marlowe, author of them alight, playwrights began to
plays including the two-part drama Theatrical performances divide their plays more clearly into
Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew Theaters of the time were three- five acts. The Sam Wanamaker
of Malta, and Edward II, were all story buildings with open roofs Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe
to influence Shakespeare. Growth and uncurtained platform stages is an indoor stage that gives an
in the size of acting companies that thrust forward into the impression of this kind of theater. ❯❯
auditorium. Performances were
Hell hath no limits, given during daylight hours. At Can this cock-pit hold
nor is circumscribed the back of the stage were doors The vasty fields of France?
from which the actors entered, and
In one self place, behind them the tiring house, or Or may we cram
for where we are is hell, dressing room. There was an upper Within this wooden O
And where hell is must acting level that could represent a
balcony or the walls of a city. the very casques
we ever be. A canopy over the stage held That did affright the air
Mephistopheles machinery to allow the descent
of gods. There was no scenery. at Agincourt?
Christopher Marlowe’s Musicians had their own space. Chorus
Dr. Faustus The audience stood at ground level,
or occupied the tiers of seating Henry V
built into the walls. In London
today, at Shakespeare’s Globe on
Bankside, there is a reconstruction
of the Globe Theatre, originally
built in 1599, for which many of
Shakespeare’s plays were written.

16 SHAKESPEARE

The actors who first performed English stage before 1660. This be limited, so play texts were
Shakespeare’s plays were skilled explains the relatively small adapted to suit the constraints
professionals, required by law to number of female parts in each of the new venues.
be organized into companies under play: for instance, only two in Julius
the patronage of a high-ranking Caesar—Portia and Calpurnia— A wealth of plays
person—such as a nobleman, or and the same number in Hamlet— Shakespeare was an extremely
even the Queen herself. A typical Ophelia and Gertrude. versatile playwright, constantly
company was made up of 12 or 14 experimenting with new styles
men, who could be supplemented Music and special effects of drama and developing his
by extras, known as hired men. Music played an important part in range of subject matter and the
Some of Shakespeare’s plays performances, as is evident from depth of understanding of character
require no more than the standard the number of songs and dances throughout his career. His first
number of actors, but in others the in the plays. Actors would plays include the light comedies
same actor would have had to play sometimes have accompanied The Two Gentlemen of Verona
two or even three roles in the same their songs on lutes, and a band and The Taming of the Shrew, the
performance. All female roles were of playhouse musicians supplied bloody tragedy of Titus Andronicus,
played by boys—no professional incidental music. Ceremonial and four plays, also more or less
female actors appeared on the entries of royal persons and great tragic in form, based on English
warriors would be heralded by
But it is certain I am loved fanfares and drum rolls. Thunder Life’s but a walking shadow,
of all ladies, only you excepted. could be imitated by the use of a a poor player
thunder run—cannon balls rolled
And I would I could find in down a wooden trough—and it was That struts and frets his
my heart that I had not a hard even possible to imitate lightning hour upon the stage,
by the use of special stage effects.
heart, for truly I love none. And then is heard no more.
Benedick Theaters were closed during Macbeth
the 40-day religious observance
Much Ado About Nothing of Lent, and companies frequently Macbeth
went on tour in the English
provinces. Since there were no
custom-built playhouses outside
London, they had to play in
improvised settings such as inn
yards, the halls of great houses,
guildhalls, and even occasionally
in churches. Facilities would

INTRODUCTION 17

history—three on the reign of greatest comic character, Sir John tragicomedy Troilus and Cressida,
Henry VI and a follow-up about Falstaff, and their triumphant and two other plays—Measure for
Richard III. All these were written sequel Henry V, as well as the Measure and All’s Well that Ends
before the founding of the Lord romantic tragedy of Romeo and Well—which, although comic in
Chamberlain’s Men, in 1594. The Juliet, the somewhat unromantic form, raise serious moral concerns.
end of that year saw a performance comedy The Merry Wives of In this period, he also wrote the
of his brilliantly plotted Comedy of Windsor, which also has Falstaff at profound tragedies Othello,
Errors, in which he interweaves a its center, and the Roman tragedy Macbeth, and King Lear. On the
tale of mistaken identity derived Julius Caesar. death of the Queen, in 1603, his
from Roman comedy with the company became the King’s Men.
romantic tale of a family parted His company acquired a new
but eventually reunited. theater, the Globe, in 1599. For this Collaborators and rivals
playhouse, he wrote the last two Around 1606, for reasons unknown,
A successful playwright of his romantic comedies, As You Shakespeare returned to his former
As a shareholder in the Lord Like It and Twelfth Night. This is practice of collaborating with other
Chamberlain’s Men from 1594, the period, too, of his greatest playwrights. Thomas Middleton
and no longer needing to work success to date, the tragedy of who, along with Ben Jonson, had
in collaboration with other Hamlet. After this, his plays emerged as his most serious rival,
playwrights, Shakespeare had become darker in tone. They worked with him on Timon of
more independence to write what include the highly original, bitter Athens, but the only text of this
he wanted, but clearly felt he had play that has come down to us is
to provide his colleagues with My lips, two blushing pilgrims, incomplete. A new departure in
plays written in a variety of styles, ready stand dramatic style comes with Pericles,
keeping up an average of roughly written with the minor playwright
two a year. To smooth that rough touch George Wilkins, a tragicomic
with a tender kiss. narrative that foreshadows the later,
Over the next five years Romeo singly authored Cymbeline, The
or so, he wrote a dazzling series Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.
of romantic comedies—Love’s Romeo and Juliet
Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer During this phase of his career,
Night’s Dream, The Merchant of he wrote two highly contrasting
Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, tragedies of ancient Rome, the
and As You Like It, along with austere Coriolanus and the
more plays about English history— flamboyant Antony and Cleopatra,
Richard II and King John, both and, with John Fletcher, some
in tragic form, the two parts of fifteen years his junior, a now lost
Henry IV, which feature his play, Cardenio, The Two Noble ❯❯

18 SHAKESPEARE

Kinsmen, and the play known in audiences, should be celebrated speeches of Oberon and Titania in
its time as All is True but printed both in English-speaking countries A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He
in the First Folio as Henry VIII. and elsewhere as an author of could write speeches that are both
During an early performance of enduring significance? witty and comic, such as those that
All is True in 1613, the firing of a Lance addresses to his dog Crab, in
stage cannon set the thatch of the Part of the answer is that he The Two Gentlemen of Verona, or
Globe playhouse on fire, burning was a master of both prose and those of Bottom and his colleagues
it to the ground. Shakespeare’s verse. He could construct powerful in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
career as a playwright ended pieces of rhetoric, such as Mark
with the destruction of the Antony’s speech to the Roman He could write with powerful
playhouse that had seen some citizens in the Forum in Julius simplicity, piercing our hearts
of his greatest successes. Caesar, and the king’s address with simple statements such as
to his troops before the battle of Leontes’s “O, she’s warm!” in
In the last three years of his Agincourt in Henry V. He could The Winter’s Tale, or Prospero’s
life, Shakespeare wrote little or write beautiful passages of lyrical “Tis new to thee” in response to
nothing. He died in April 1616, verse, such as the love scenes of Miranda’s “O brave new world, /
leaving most of his property to Romeo and Juliet and the exquisite That has such people in it” in
Susanna, and £150 to his younger The Tempest, or the largely
daughter Judith. Among other monosyllabic reunion of King
bequests, he left small sums of Lear and Cordelia.
money to three colleagues in his
acting company, the King’s Men— This is the excellent Memorable characters
Richard Burbage, Henry Condell, foppery of the world: that, Shakespeare could also tell
and John Heminges—to buy when we are sick in fortune— gripping stories. The overall
mourning rings, a common often the surfeits of own design of the plays drives the plots
practice of the time. behaviour—we make guilty forward—and sometimes there
of our disasters the sun, the are complex stories with more than
What makes him great? one plot, as in Hamlet or King Lear.
Why is it that Shakespeare, a long- moon, and the stars He builds tension in individual
dead author of plays conceived for Edmond scenes, such as the trial scene in
playhouses very different from The Merchant of Venice and the
those of the present day, written King Lear banquet scene in Macbeth, with
in an increasingly archaic great dramatic effectiveness.
language, employing unrealistic
dramatic conventions, and telling He gives us a strong sense of
stories that are often remote individual character, making us
from the daily experience of his believe in the reality of the people
in his plays, often by making

INTRODUCTION 19

them speak in individual ways— or legend that enables people Turtle. The exact order in which
such as the Nurse in Romeo and of later ages to relate to them Shakespeare wrote his works
Juliet, or Shylock in The Merchant easily. Some plays, such as the is uncertain. In this book, we follow
of Venice—sometimes by making history plays and Julius Caesar, both the text and the chronology of
them behave in a manner that is also have a political dimension the Complete Oxford Shakespeare,
at once unexpected but credible. that can easily seem relevant to General Editors Stanley Wells and
issues of modern times. Gary Taylor, first published in
Crucially, he is not judgmental 1986. It was reissued in 2005 with
or moralistic. Even the characters To speak of Shakespeare as the addition of Edward III, which
who behave badly, such as the world’s greatest dramatist by that time was generally agreed to
Paroles in All’s Well That Ends is inadequate. It would be have been written at least partly by
Well, (perhaps above all) Falstaff closer to the mark to speak Shakespeare, and the full text
in the Henry IV plays, or a of him as a philosopher, a of Sir Thomas More, a play that
villainous murderer such as psychologist, or a poet possessed survives only in manuscript,
Macbeth, can make us feel of the artistry that enables him and to which Shakespeare
what they feel rather than to express his perceptions in appears to have contributed
pass judgment on their sins. dramatic form, and in so doing at least one fine scene. ■
render them with unique subtlety
His plays provide a wealth of and communicative power.
complex and theatrically effective
roles, which offer rich and Structure of this book Come, you spirits
demanding opportunities to actors. This book offers a section on That tend on mortal thoughts,
Tragic roles such as Hamlet and each of Shakespeare’s plays,
King Lear, Lady Macbeth and giving information about their Unsex me here,
Cleopatra, heroic ones such as major themes, a concise description And fill me from the crown
Henry V and Coriolanus, wittily of their principal characters, a
comic roles such as Benedick and breakdown of the action arranged to the toe top-full
Beatrice in Much Ado About by act and scene, and a full synopsis Of direst cruelty.
Nothing, and broadly comic ones of their plots. This is followed by Lady Macbeth
such as Bottom in A Midsummer information about each play’s
Night’s Dream, all provide actors reputation and impact over the ages. Macbeth
with exceptional opportunities There are also informative sections
to demonstrate their skills. on Shakespeare’s narrative poems,
Venus and Adonis and The Rape
Stories for all times of Lucrece, on his sonnets, and on
Many of the stories that he tells, his other two poems, A Lover’s
such as in King Lear or The Complaint and The Phoenix and the
Tempest, have a quality of myth

THE FRE

WRITER

1589–1594

ELANCE

22 INTRODUCTION

Shakespeare arrives Christopher Marlowe Fifteen-year-old Anne of Shakespeare writes the
in London, and writes writes The Jew of Malta. Denmark is crowned history plays Henry VI
his first play, The Two Part 3, Henry VI Part 1,
Gentlemen of Verona. The play influences Queen of Scotland. Upon and the tragedy Titus
Shakespeare’s Merchant the union of the crowns
in 1604, she becomes Andronicus.
of Venice.
Queen of England.

1589 1589 1590 1591
1589 1590 1590 1591

Henry III of France is A comedy and a Urban VI is pope for Engish actor James
murdered, and the history play by just 12 days before Burbage moves
Protestant Huguenot Shakespeare appear, he dies. Christopher his company, the
The Taming of
Henry of Navarre becomes the Shrew and Marlowe writes Admiral’s Men, to
Henry IV, but is not Henry VI Part 2. Tamburlaine. the Rose Theatre.

recognized by Catholics.

T he young William ruffling feathers among the Exciting times
Shakespeare probably university-educated literary London in the late 1580s was an
arrived in London in the dramatists used to ruling the roost exciting time to be a playwright.
late 1580s. We do not know exactly in the capital until he came along. It was the fastest-growing city
when, however. After the birth of One of these dramatists was Robert in Europe, a bustling metropolis
his twins in early 1585, no more Greene (1558–92), who, in 1592, rivaled in size only by Paris and
is heard of him for seven years. as he lay dying in poverty, wrote Naples. It was a young city—most
bitterly in a pamphlet: “for there is of the population was under the age
Some believe he spent these an upstart Crow, beautified with of 30—and the theater scene was
years as a school teacher; others our feathers, that with his Tyger’s booming. Beyond the city walls,
that he traveled to Italy, although hart wrapt in a Players hyde, in the lively, squalid city fringes,
there is no real evidence of this. supposes he is as well able to new theaters were beginning to
One theory is that he lived with bombast out a blanke verse as the attract large audiences. James
a Catholic family in Lancashire, best of you: and…is in his owne Burbage had opened the Theatre
where he developed Catholic conceit the onely Shake-scene in in Shoreditch in 1576, and his rival
sympathies that he had to keep a countrey.” The phrase “Tyger’s Philip Henslowe had opened the
secret to avoid running foul of hart wrapt in a Player’s hyde” is Curtain Theatre nearby in 1577.
England’s Protestant regime. a parody of a line from Henry VI
Part 3. So it would seem that by It is speculated that
Provincial upstart this point Shakespeare was already Shakespeare may have started his
All we can really be sure of is well known, yet still sufficiently career with one of these companies
that he was living in London and new on the scene for Greene to as an actor, and he may have
writing plays by 1590 or so. We call him an “upstart.” started writing plays soon after. His
know this because he was clearly earliest surviving works, The Two

THE FREELANCE WRITER 23

The Earl of Essex leads The Marquess An arrest warrant Henry IV, converted
English troops to help of Huntly sets fire is issued on the to Catholicism, is
Henry of Navarre at playwright crowned King
Rouen. The Rialto Bridge to Donibristle Christopher of France.
in Venice is completed. Castle in Scotland, Marlowe, who is

murdering the accused of heresy.
Earl of Moray in

a vendetta.

1591 1592 1593 1594
1592 1593 1594 1594

Richard III and The poem Venus and In Ireland, the Shakespeare
Edward III are staged. Adonis is published. earls Hugh O’Neill and completes his poem
In June, an outbreak of Protestant suppression Hugh O’Donnell unite to The Rape of Lucrece,
bubonic plague closes of Catholics is tightened another commercial
with the Act Against fight English rule.
the theaters. success.
Papists.

Gentleman of Verona and The England, depose the “heretic” Plague and poetry
Taming of the Shrew, date from Elizabeth, and restore the Catholic Then, disaster struck. A major
about 1590. He may even have faith. Remarkably, the smaller, more outbreak of plague ravaged London.
written for several companies at maneuverable English fleet, with To impede the spread of the
the same time. the aid of tides and storms, routed epidemic, the theaters were closed
the vast Armada. And although this from June 1592 to May 1594, and
The Armada effect was a crushing blow for Catholic theater companies banished from
These were dangerous times, too. hopes, there was probably hardly the city. Some went on tour, but it
The wounds caused by Henry VIII’s anyone in England, Protestant or is not known what Shakespeare
break from Catholic Church were Catholic, who did not feel a glow of did. He probably used this time to
still raw, and Catholic sympathizers pride at this unlikely triumph. It turn his hand to poetry: in April
everywhere were constantly secured Elizabeth’s reign and sent a 1593, his great poem Venus and
watched by government spies. wave of patriotic feeling through Adonis was published. It proved to
the country, which Shakespeare be the biggest literary success of
In 1587, the long-imprisoned rode, writing so successfully about his life, far outselling any of his
Catholic Mary Queen of Scots was England’s history over the following plays and going through many
executed after being implicated years with his raft of history plays. reprints. A second poem, The Rape
in a plot to kill her cousin, Queen of Lucrece, came out the following
Elizabeth I. In response, Philip II He made his mark quickly, and year. He may also have been
of Spain sent the 140-ship Armada, by 1592 already had half a dozen writing plays. Perhaps anticipating
the “greatest fleet that ever swam popular successes, including his a hunger for entertainment with
upon the sea.” Philip, who had been first series of plays about the Wars the reopening of the theaters, his
married to Elizabeth’s Catholic of the Roses: the Henry VI plays and next two works were comedies. ■
sister, Mary I, aimed to invade Richard III, and Titus Andronicus.

IN LOVE

WHO RESPECTS

FRIEND?

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
(1589–1591)



26 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

DRAMATIS Valentine bids farewell Valentine is revealed Proteus arrives at
PERSONAE to Proteus, as he leaves to be in love with court and immediately
the Duke’s daughter,
Proteus A young for Milan. Silvia. falls in love
Veronese gentleman. with Silvia.

Valentine Also a gentleman 1.1 2.1 2.4
of Verona. Friend to Proteus. Act 1 Act 2

Julia Proteus’s first love, 1.3 2.2
later disguised as the
page Sebastian. Antonio is persuaded Proteus bids
to send Proteus to farewell to Julia.
Lucetta Julia’s maid, who complete his They exchange rings
makes the breeches and and Proteus vows
codpiece for Julia’s disguise education in Milan. constancy to her.
as a boy.
V alentine prepares to leave Proteus is celebrating Julia’s
Silvia Daughter of the for the Duke of Milan’s confession of love in another letter
Duke of Milan, and court to complete his when his father announces that he
Valentine’s beloved. education as a gentleman. Proteus must join Valentine. Proteus says
refuses to go with him because of goodbye to Julia. They exchange
Speed Valentine’s servant, his love for Julia. Valentine deplores rings, and he vows to be faithful to
who is far cleverer than his the effects of love upon his friend. her. Lance gives a comic account of
dim-witted master. his leave-taking in which only the
Julia discusses her suitors with dog, Crab, remained dry-eyed.
Lance Proteus’s servant, her maid, Lucetta. Lucetta singles
and a clownish fellow. out Proteus for admiration, but Julia At the court of Milan, Valentine
observes that he has made no suit has changed his attitude about
Crab Lance’s dog, to to her. When Speed delivers a letter love, having become infatuated
which Lance addresses from Proteus, Julia pretends that with Silvia, the Duke’s daughter,
impassioned monologues. she doesn’t want to read it, and who is intended for the wealthy
tears it up. In private, she pieces the Thurio. Proteus arrives at court and
Duke of Milan Silvia’s father. letter together and admits her love. is instantly enamored of Silvia, too.

Thurio The Duke’s preferred
suitor for his daughter. He
is not taken seriously by
his rivals.

Antonio Proteus’s father, who
insists that Proteus should
follow Valentine to Milan.

Panthino Antonio’s servant.

Eglamour A knight who has
taken a vow of chastity after
the death of his love.

Outlaws Living in the forest
outside Milan.

Host Keeper of the inn where
Julia lodges.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 27

Proteus tells the Duke of A group of outlaws Proteus takes Julia reveals her true
Valentine’s plan to elope capture Valentine Julia (disguised as identity and is reconciled
and adopt him as Sebastian) into his with Proteus. Proteus and
with Silvia. The Duke their captain. service. He sends Julia and Valentine and Silvia
banishes Valentine.
her to Silvia with prepare to marry.
the ring that Julia

gave him.

3.1 4.1 4.4 5.4

Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

2.7 3.2 4.3 5.2

Julia decides to Proteus arranges for Silvia Eglamour agrees to The Duke, Thurio,
go after Proteus, to be serenaded with help Silvia run Proteus, and Julia
disguised as a page. music and poetry.
away so that she can go after Silvia.
be reunited with
Valentine.

Valentine reveals he and Silvia are a letter and a ring (the one Julia Proteus’s love, and he is about to
betrothed and plan to elope. Proteus gave him). Silvia sends Proteus a rape her, but Valentine intervenes.
betrays this plot to Silvia’s father, portrait of herself, but refuses to Proteus is immediately contrite.
who tricks Valentine into revealing read his letter and tears it up. Valentine pities him and renounces
the rope ladder and letter, hidden Julia’s account of Proteus’s betrayal all his affection for Silvia. Julia
in his cloak. The Duke banishes of his first love makes Silvia cry. returns to Proteus the ring she
Valentine from Milan. had forgotten to deliver. Proteus
Silvia enlists the help of recognizes it as one he gave Julia
Proteus offers to help Thurio Eglamour, a knight who has taken and becomes suspicious. Julia
by praising him in front of Silvia a vow of chastity after his true love reveals who she is, and Proteus
and slandering Valentine. As he died. They meet at Friar Patrick’s remembers his love for her. Thurio
sings beneath her window, he is cell after confession and make their relinquishes his claim to Silvia and
overheard by Julia, who has come way toward Mantua, where Silvia the Duke agrees that Valentine
in search of her lover, disguised as believes Valentine to be living. shall marry her. The outlaws are
the page boy Sebastian. Proteus repealed from exile and the couples
takes her into his employment and In the forest, Proteus rescues prepare for a double wedding. ❯❯
sends her to woo Silvia, giving her Silvia from the outlaws who have
captured her. Silvia still refuses

28 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

IN CONTEXT For a romantic comedy, The What should it be that
Two Gentlemen of Verona is he respects in her
THEMES surprisingly negative about
Friendship, love, lust, the experience of love. Passion is But I can make respective
ambition, change, seen to inhibit the development of in myself,
betrayal, sacrifice young men, who should be fighting
in wars, studying at university, or If this fond love were
SETTING traveling abroad. Not only does it not a blinded god?
Verona, the court of Milan, stall their intellectual development,
a forest near Mantua it is imagined as being physically Julia
destructive: “As the most forward
SOURCES bud / Is eaten by the canker ere it Act 4, Scene 4
1531 The Proteus–Valentine blow, / Even so by love the young
plot echoes the story of Titus and tender wit / Is turned to folly, of the stereotypical lover. Although
and Gisippus from Boccaccio’s blasting in the bud” (1.1.45–48). Speed’s account of this is largely
Decameron. Shakespeare may comic, his acknowledgment that
have read this in Sir Thomas Valentine may well be reliant on “when I look on you I can hardly
Elyot’s The Governor (1531). “writers” for this opinion—having think you my master” (2.1.29–30)
never experienced love himself— reflects the deeper anxieties that
1542 Jorge de Montemayor’s but when he does fall for Silvia, his surrounded male erotic desire in
prose romance Diana (1542, behavior only reinforces the point. Shakespeare’s time, where to love
translated into English in 1598) His wit is so enfeebled that he does was to be rendered effeminate. But
may have provided the plot for not realize that Silvia is declaring Proteus’s transformation is the most
Julia in male disguise sent to her affections for him when she serious. In classical mythology,
woo her lover’s new mistress. asks him to write love poetry Proteus was a sea god who could
(This could also have come on her behalf. change his shape at will. However,
from the lost play Felix and Shakespeare’s character has little
Felismena (1585).) Throughout the play, characters control over his shapeshifting,
describe themselves as being which causes him to betray his
LEGACY “metamorphosed” by love. Julia vows to Julia, and destroy his
1931 Yi Jian Mei (directed by puts on male attire and makes a friendship with Valentine.
Bu Wancang)—a black-and- dangerous journey to follow her
white silent film—sets the play beloved Proteus. Valentine changes Friendship versus love
in 20th-century China. his clothing and behavior for those Shakespeare’s times placed great
value on male-male friendship,
1971 The Two Gentlemen of To leave my Julia shall imagining it a pure and ennobling
Verona, a musical adaptation I be forsworn; love, without the turbulence of lust.
(libretto by John Guare and It was thought to enable friends
Mel Shapiro) is originally To love fair Silvia shall to perfect themselves through
performed at Joe Papp’s Public I be forsworn; the mirror they provided to one
Theater, but transfers to another: “true friends should be
Broadway where it wins a To wrong my friend I shall two in body, but one in minde, /
Tony award for Best Musical. be much forsworn. As it were one transformed into
Proteus another,” said Richard Edwardes in
2014 The Royal Shakespeare his 1564 play Damon and Pythias.
Company stages its first full Act 2, Scene 6
production of the play in its
main house. The performance
is filmed and played live in
cinemas across the country.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 29

Given that friends were meant to Silvia. His immediate confession It is the lesser blot,
share the same judgment, taste, and penitence when interrupted modesty finds,
and appetite, and to hold all things by Valentine can hardly atone
in common, it is no surprise that for the crime he was about to Women to change their shapes
Proteus should desire Valentine’s perpetrate, or the betrayals that than men their minds.
beloved. One theory that The Two have brought him to this point. Julia
Gentlemen of Verona has been used And yet, Valentine immediately
to illustrate is that we are taught forgives him and, renouncing all Act 5, Scene 4
what to admire by other people— ties to Silvia, offers her to Proteus.
encouraged to see with their eyes. Proteus seems invigorated by lust, play’s women. The male characters
It is what Proteus does next that is and his betrayal of their friendship insist that women say “no” when
a breach against the friendship might imply that he has escaped they mean yes; their characters are
code, when he betrays Valentine the confines of the friendship soft, as if molded out of wax. Yet
in order to steal his mistress, narrative, even if Valentine has not. it is the men who are fickle, while
insisting that “I to myself am Julia and Silvia remain attached to
dearer than a friend” (2.6.23). The place of women their first loves. As Proteus asserts:
Shakespeare’s rape threat has also “O heaven, were man / But constant,
Furthermore, in Shakespeare’s proven controversial because of the he were perfect” (5.4.109–110). Silvia’s
most notorious addition to the way in which it undermines the fate is finally decided by Valentine,
drama, Proteus threatens to rape Thurio, and her father, without her
uttering a word, and the likelihood
of Julia’s happiness with the ever-
changing, would-be rapist Proteus
is not meant to trouble us. The
friendship theme gains the upper
hand, with Valentine’s anticipation
of “One feast, one house, one
mutual happiness” (5.4.171) invoking
less the terms of the marriage
service (man and wife becoming
“one flesh”) than the image of male
friends as “one in mind.”

While Shakespeare would
return to many of the themes and
motifs of this play, he would never
again risk subordinating romantic
love to friendship in this way. ■

A 2012 Shona production related
the play’s themes of exile and
deception to life in contemporary
Zimbabwe. All 15 characters were
played by one pair of actors.

I KNOW NOW HOW TO

TAME

A SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1590–1594)



32 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

DRAMATIS Christopher Sly settles Hortensio tells Lucentio and Hortensio
PERSONAE down to watch a play, Petruccio about tutor Bianca, taking the
wrongly believing himself
Christopher Sly A drunken Katherine. opportunity to divulge
tinker. to be a lord. their love for her.

Baptista The father of INDUCTION 1.2 3.1
Katherine and Bianca, who Act 1 Act 2
negotiates with their suitors.
1.1 2.1
Katherine A strong,
opinionated woman with a Lucentio spies Bianca Katherine breaks
reputation that precedes her. and hatches a plan a lute over

Bianca Katherine’s younger to woo her. Hortensio’s head,
sister, who is the object of and is told by
affection for several suitors.
Petruccio that they
Petruccio A gentleman of will marry on
Verona who travels to Padua to Sunday.
marry into a wealthy family.
A drunken tinker called with Bianca, and plans to beat
Grumio Petruccio’s servant, Christopher Sly argues the other suitors for her hand in
who taunts Katherine with with the hostess of an marriage. He decides to don a
food when his master has alehouse and is thrown out. A disguise and offer his services as
forbidden her to eat. passing Lord and his servants trick her tutor, and instructs his servant,
him into believing that he is a lord, Tranio, to impersonate him.
Gremio An old wealthy man and invite him to watch a play. The
who is in love with Bianca. play is set in Italy and begins with Hortensio’s friend Petruccio
Lucentio and his servant Tranio arrives in Padua and declares his
Hortensio Bianca’s suitor, arriving in Padua. They overhear intention to marry a woman with
who disguises himself as the Baptista Minola explaining to a large dowry. Hortensio suggests
teacher Licio in order to gain Hortensio and Gremio, suitors Katherine Minola and Petruccio
access to her. to his daughter Bianca, that they determines to woo, win, and wed
cannot marry her until a husband her, despite her shrewish reputation.
Lucentio A young man from is found for Katherine, his eldest
Pisa who disguises himself daughter. Lucentio also falls in love Petruccio comes to woo
as the teacher Cambio in order Katherine and presents Licio
to woo Bianca. (Hortensio in disguise) as a music

Vincentio Lucentio’s father
who travels to Padua and is
shocked to discover that
another man has assumed
his identity.

Tranio Lucentio’s servant
who pretends to be his master
while his master plays the
part of Cambio.

Biondello Another servant
to Lucentio.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 33

Katherine asks Petruccio Lucentio and Petruccio tries Petruccio kisses
to stay for their wedding Hortensio reveal Katherine’s patience Katherine having won
dinner to no avail. their disguises by calling the sun
a wager testing
to Bianca. the moon. her obedience.

3.3 4.2 4.6 5.2
Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

3.2 4.1 4.3 5.1

Petruccio arrives Petruccio chases his Petruccio shreds a Lucentio’s father,
“fantastically dressed” servants from his house, and cap and gown that Vincentio, is confronted
have been made for by a merchant assuming
for his marriage throws the food they have
to Katherine. made on the floor. Katherine. his identity.

master for the sisters; Hortensio declares that he and his wife will Katherine and Petruccio return to
will attempt to woo Bianca, while not attend the wedding dinner, but Padua for a banquet, Katherine
Petruccio secures his marriage to return to his home immediately. obeys Petruccio’s commands.
her sister. Gremio enlists Lucentio Petruccio denies his wife food and
(disguised as Cambio) to woo on sleep in an attempt to tame her Petruccio wagers that his wife
his behalf, while Tranio, already shrewish behavior. will prove more obedient than both
disguised as Lucentio, continues Lucentio and Hortensio’s wives.
to woo Bianca for his master. Having revealed his true When the men call for their wives
identity, Lucentio wins Bianca’s to attend them, only Katherine
After a lively exchange of words heart, leaving Hortensio to marry appears; Petruccio wins the
with Katherine, Petruccio confirms a widow. Lacking funds, Lucentio wager. Katherine speaks forcefully
his intention to marry her, and a and Tranio convince a merchant to to the other women about what
date is set for the wedding. The imitate Lucentio’s father, Vincentio. is expected of a good wife, and
wedding party is kept waiting due All is well until Lucentio’s real about the nature of the relationship
to Petruccio’s late arrival, but when father arrives, and is bemused to between husband and wife. The
he appears, his clothing does not meet the impostor. The confusion guests are left surprised by
befit the occasion. Petruccio then is explained by Lucentio. As Katherine’s transformation. ❯❯

34 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

IN CONTEXT Some critics may wish that title of Shakespeare’s play promised
Shakespeare had never drama and extreme behavior. It also
THEMES written The Taming of the promised a battle of the sexes.
Love, marriage, power, Shrew. There are actresses today
fathers, daughters, money, who would not want to be cast as The property of men
status, men, women Katherine, and theater reviewers Women are often spoken about in
who would prefer to see the play this play as commodities, owned
SETTING disappear from the stage. Others, by men. Katherine’s first utterance
Warwickshire, England, however, would include the play in is one of disgust at hearing the way
Padua, Italy their list of favorite Shakespearean in which her father speaks of her to
comedies, and identify Katherine Gremio and Hortensio, underlining
SOURCES as one of the playwright’s most her father’s financial interest in her
10th century Christopher memorable early creations. marital status. Financial gain is the
Sly’s story shares similarities first thing that occurs to Petruccio
with a tale from The Arabian In his presentation of the when he accepts the challenge of
Nights, while the tale of the “taming” of a “shrew,” Shakespeare wooing Katherine: “I come to wive
shrewish woman takes its gave voice to a variety of attitudes it wealthily in Padua; / If wealthily,
inspiration from ballads and toward women and marriage that then happily in Padua” (1.2.74–75).
folk stories of the period. were common in his time. Such Love does not enter his thoughts,
attitudes are more likely to offend although he clearly has sex in mind:
1566 The plot involving than entertain contemporary “For I will board her though she
Bianca, Lucentio, Hortensio, audiences, but they reflect the
and Gremio is based on George playwright’s engagement with Sexual tension or brutal bullying?
Gascoigne’s comedy Supposes. the period in which he was living. Productions have reflected the sexual
At this time a woman could be politics of their time. Franco Zeffirelli’s
LEGACY described as “shrewish” if she film of 1967 starred husband and wife
1611 John Fletcher writes openly disagreed with a man or Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The Woman’s Prize or The seemed bad tempered. The very
Tamer Tamed as a response
to Shakespeare’s play.

1874 Hermann Goetz writes an
opera based on the play called
Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung.

1929 First Shakespeare “talkie”
directed by Sam Taylor, with
Hollywood stars Mary Pickford
and Douglas Fairbanks.

1948 Cole Porter’s musical
adaptation titled Kiss Me Kate
is first performed.

1967 Franco Zeffirelli’s film,
starring Richard Burton and
Elizabeth Taylor, is released.

1999 US teen-movie 10 Things
I Hate About You, based on
the play, is set in a Seattle
High School.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 35

Have I not in my time heard treats her, in his own words, like Shrewish women
lions roar? a falcon (4.1.176), shaping her
Petruccio appetites to suit his will. Petruccio’s In the 16th century a woman
treatment of Katherine is ruthless. It had to do little more than
Act 1, Scene 2 contrasts strongly with the farcical challenge a man’s opinion to
romantic sub-plot in which Bianca be termed a “shrew.” She
chide as loud / As thunder when the is besieged by starry-eyed suitors. might be labeled “shrewish”
clouds in autumn crack” (1.2.94–95). Petruccio does not seem interested if she spoke too much, or
It is clear that Katherine, who is in having the love as well as the appeared mean spirited or
thought of by the men as a “fiend obedience of his wife. Katherine is sexually promiscuous.
of hell” (1.1.88) will be turned into bewildered by his behavior and
a “gentler, milder mould” (1.1.60). angered that “He does it under There were many ballads
The question remains whether the name of perfect love” (4.3.12). and folk tales about unruly
transformation will be consensual. wives that Shakespeare could
At the close of the play Katherine have based his presentation
Taming tactics performs the role of Petruccio’s of Katherine around. Here is
Shakespeare has Petruccio rehearse “perfect wife,” appearing at his a verse of a ballad called The
his “taming” strategy through command and echoing his words in Cruel Shrew: “She never lins
soliloquy before meeting Katherine: her final speech to the women at the her brawling, / Her tongue it
“Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell banquet: “Thy husband is thy lord, is so loud; / But always she’ll
her plain / She sings as sweetly as a thy life, thy keeper, / Thy head, thy be railing, / And will not be
nightingale. / Say that she frown, I’ll sovereign, one that cares for thee, / controlled. / For she the
say she looks as clear / As morning And for thy maintenance commits breeches still will wear, /
roses newly washed with dew. / Say his body / To painful labour both by Although it breeds my strife. /
she be mute and will not speak a sea and land, / … / And craves no If I were now a bachelor, /
word, / Then I’ll commend her other tribute at thy hands / But love, I’d never have a wife.”
volubility, / And say she uttereth fair looks, and true obedience, / Too
piercing eloquence” (2.1.170–176). little payment for so great a debt” Punishments in the 16th
Without recourse to this soliloquy, (5.2.151–159). century for being thought
Petruccio’s behavior would seem “shrewish” were brutal.
eccentric and insensitive. While Whether or not the play ends Women could be forced to
this soliloquy does not excuse his in joy is open to interpretation. wear a horrific metal device
conduct (including withholding There have been productions called a scold’s bridle. This
food and denying sleep), it serves where Kates and Petruccios have fit over the woman’s head
to emphasize that he is donning left the stage arm in arm into a and pushed a metal plate
a role to achieve a desired result. happy future together; but there into her mouth to hold down
have also been those left staring her tongue. Having silenced
As the couple make their way to at one another in stony silence. ■ his wife, a husband could
the banquet at the close, Petruccio’s tie a rope around her neck
“reign” (4.1.174) over Katherine Why there’s a wench! and parade her in front of
is apparent. He has essentially Come on, and kiss me, Kate. his neighbors.
talked her (or in some productions,
beaten her) into submission. He Petruccio

Act 5, Scene 2

36 DRAMATIS
PERSONAE
THE COMMONS LIKE
AN ANGRY HIVE OF THE KING’S PARTY
BEES THAT WANT King Henry VI
THEIR LEADER Queen Margaret
SCATTER UP William de la Pole,
AND DOWN Marquis, later Duke,
of Suffolk
HENRY VI PART 2 (1590–1591) Duke of Gloucester
Dame Eleanor Cobham
Cardinal Beaufort
Duke of Buckingham
Duke of Somerset
Lord Clifford

DUKE OF YORK’S PARTY
Richard, Duke of York
Edward
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Warwick

OTHERS
Jack Cade
Sir Humphrey Stafford

Y oung King Henry VI is
overjoyed as Suffolk hands
the beautiful Margaret of
Anjou to him to be his queen. Lord
Protector Gloucester and Warwick
are appalled at the political cost—
the return of Anjou and Maine to
France. York reveals that he aims to
take the crown himself. Gloucester’s
wife Eleanor dreams that he should
be king. Margaret and her lover
Suffolk determine to bring down
Gloucester by setting a trap for his
wife. Eleanor is seen consulting
with witches who prophesy the
king’s overthrow. She is arrested.

While he is out hawking with
the queen at St. Albans, Henry
receives news of the arrest of

THE FREELANCE WRITER 37

Henry VI marries Margaret. York gains the York ordered to Ireland. Cade’s rebellion is
Richard of York bides his support of Suffolk is blamed for dispersed and Cade
time. Eleanor of the murder of Gloucester is killed. York has
Gloucester dreams of Salisbury and landed from Ireland
Warwick for his and banished.
making her husband king. claim to the throne. demanding
Somerset’s arrest.

1.1–2 2.2 3.1–2 4.7–9

Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

1.3 3.1 4.1–3 5.1–4

Margaret and her News that all Suffolk is York learns that
lover Suffolk seek England’s territories beheaded. Jack Somerset is free and
Cade’s rebellion gains
to bring down in France are lost momentum and heads determines to
Gloucester and set goes almost unnoticed dethrone Henry.
to London. York kills Clifford,
a trap for amid the infighting.
Gloucester’s wife. Richard kills
Somerset, and Henry
and Margaret flee.

Gloucester’s wife. Gloucester an army, he sees his chance. When disperse. Cade hides but is killed.
resigns as Protector. York reveals Henry hears of Gloucester’s death, York has landed in England in force,
his claim to the throne to Salisbury he is distraught and turns against demanding the arrest of Somerset.
and his son Warwick who pledge Suffolk. Warwick shows Gloucester’s
allegiance. Gloucester is distressed body to prove he was murdered and York reaches London intent on
when Eleanor is banished. accuses Suffolk. Despite Margaret’s claiming the throne. Buckingham
pleas, Henry banishes Suffolk. and the King assure him that
In Parliament, Margaret and Margaret and Suffolk part sadly. Somerset is in the Tower, but
Suffolk denounce Gloucester, but Margaret arrives with Somerset.
Henry defends him feebly. England’s After a sea battle, Suffolk is York explodes and tells Henry that
territories in France have been beheaded and his head sent to his rule is over. As Salisbury and
lost, while York and Suffolk order the Margaret. Jack Cade, encouraged Warwick switch allegiance to York,
arrest of Gloucester. Henry is upset, by York, begins a peasant’s war begins. At St. Albans, York kills
but Margaret, York, and the Cardinal rebellion, killing Stafford and Clifford and his son Richard kills
agree that Suffolk should have others. The rebels head to London, Somerset. Margaret drags Henry
Gloucester murdered. York is sent to where Margaret cradles Suffolk’s away to London. The Yorkists march
Ireland to quell a rebellion and, given head. The rebels are persuaded to on London to proclaim their victory. ❯❯

38 HENRY VI PART 2

IN CONTEXT H enry VI Part 2 is often Henry VI (depicted with his wife
considered the strongest of Margaret of Anjou in this 15th-century
THEMES Shakespeare’s three plays manuscript) gave away territories to
Ambition, weakness, about Henry VI, who, historically, Margaret’s father. Shakespeare portrays
social order, kingship was the king of England from the Henry as easily influenced by his wife.
age of nine months in 1422 until
SETTING 1461 and again from 1470 until 1471. events vividly to life and shapes
London, Kent, Blackheath, The play focuses on the dark period them into a gripping narrative.
St. Albans in English history leading up to a Characters from history, from the
Yorkist challenge to the Lancastrian brutally ambitious Richard of York
SOURCES monarchy that spiralled into the to the strong-willed Margaret of
1548 One source for the play civil and dynastic war known as Anjou, attain such intensity each
is Edward Hall’s The Union the Wars of the Roses. time the play is performed that it
of the Two Noble and Illustre is difficult for historians to escape
Families of Lancaster and York. This first of Shakespeare’s great Shakespeare’s re-creation of them.
plays about English history—written
1587 As for many of his before Henry VI Part 1—may have Using the poetic style and stage
History plays, Shakespeare first been performed in 1591. It was techniques of his contemporaries,
also drew on Raphael printed as early as 1594 in a quarto Shakespeare creates a heightened,
Holinshed’s Chronicles of version under an extraordinarily emotionally charged drama, and
England, Scotland, and Ireland. lengthy title, which was presumably he reshapes the material in his
the publisher’s publicity blurb rather historical sources to create a
LEGACY than Shakespeare’s own title. Most pattern to the events, drawing out
1591 Evidence suggests that people refer to it as The Second Part themes of kingship and ambition.
Henry VI Part 2 was first of Henry VI (as it is entitled in the
staged in 1591 or 1592. 1623 Folio edition) or Henry VI Part 2. Recasting Cade
One of the most vivid characters
1864 Performance to celebrate Making history in the play is Jack Cade, the lively
Shakespeare’s tercentenary at Although the rawness of the verse rabble-rouser who, egged on by
the Surrey Theatre in London. shows the young Shakespeare still York, stirs up the common-folk of
developing his craft, its attraction Kent to rebellion and leads them on
1963 John Barton and Peter lies in the way it brings a panoply a terrifying assault on London. But
Hall at the RSC combine the of shadowy historical figures and the Cade in Henry VI Part 2 is not
three Henry VI plays and
Richard III into the two-part
The Wars of the Roses.

1987 An English Shakespeare
Company production directed
by Michael Bogdanov stresses
the play’s political issues. It
tours Japan, Italy, and Australia.

2001 A production combines
the Henry VI/Richard III
tetralogy into one at the
Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

2012 The National Theatre
of Albania performs the play
as part of the Globe to Globe
Festival, at the Globe, London.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 39

It is great sin to swear peacemaker. But York and Queen Performance history
unto a sin, Margaret condemn his “church-like
humours” (1.1.247) as unfit for the Despite the weakness of the
But greater sin to keep crown, and describe his obsession character of King Henry, who
a sinful oath. with prayer as unmanly. Ultimately, vacillates and hesitates, the
Salisbury his piety becomes simply vacillation, powerful parts of Richard of
and his indecision makes him York and Queen Margaret
Act 5, Scene 1 increasingly irrelevant. “What provide challenging roles that
are you made of?” Margaret cries dominate and drive the play.
the well-educated young man desperately when they are caught in
described in Holinshed’s Chronicles; the Battle of St. Albans at the end, Many directors have
he is a conflation of the historical “You’ll nor fight nor fly” (5.4.3). presented the Henry VI trilogy
Jack Cade who led a rebellion in along with Richard III, creating
1450, and an earlier rebel, Wat Tyler, The emptiness at the center a tetralogy on the Wars of the
who led the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381. creates a power vacuum that Roses. Often the same actor
sucks in and destroys all but the plays the same character
In the play, Cade instructs the strongest—from Eleanor, the “good” across the plays, as Chuck
rebels to hang a clerk because he Duke of Gloucester’s wife, who is Iwuji (pictured) did in 2008,
can write, and Dick the Butcher caught conspiring with witches, playing Henry VI for the RSC.
calls, “let’s kill all the lawyers” to the queen’s unfortunate lover,
(4.2.78). But it was Tyler’s rebellion, Suffolk, who is beheaded at sea. Well-regarded theatrical
according to Holinshed, that Suffolk’s departure is one of the performances include the 1963
condemned literacy and lawyers most touching scenes in the play. John Barton and Peter Hall
for being socially divisive, not He is a brutal schemer, responsible adaptation at the RSC titled
Cade’s. Shakespeare mixes the two, for entrapping Eleanor and arranging The Wars of the Roses with
emphasizing the chaos that ensues the murder of Gloucester. Yet their Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret
when proper social and political parting is poignant: “To France, and Donald Sinden as York.
relationships are cast aside: “like sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from These productions highlighted
an angry hive of bees / That want thee. / For wheresoe’er thou art in the political and social unrest
their leader” (3.2.125–126). However, this world’s Globe, / I’ll have an Iris prevalent in the plays, which
Cade is no egalitarian—change will that shall find thee out” (3.2.409– reflected the civil upheaval
happen when Cade is king himself, 412). When Margaret cradles of the 1960s—a period of
“as king I will be” (4.2.71–72), an Suffolk’s decapitated head in her lap, momentous events such as
echo of York’s claims to kingship. it is a moment of true anguish. the erection of the Berlin
However, it would be wrong to Wall and the assassination
assume that Shakespeare is out Henry’s weakness has unleashed of John F Kennedy.
of sympathy with the plight of the demons, and at the end of the
the poor, whose suffering in such play, the ruthless ambition of York and Acclaimed television
unhinged times is made very clear. his sons chillingly takes control. ■ productions include a 1981
BBC version of all four plays
Can we outrun the heavens? directed by Jane Howell, which
King Henry stayed very close to the play.

Act 5, Scene 4

The empty center
At the heart of this breakdown
in relationships is King Henry
himself. He wants to be a

40 DRAMATIS
PERSONAE
I CAN SMILE
AND MURDER THE KING’S PARTY
WHILES I SMILE King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
HENRY VI PART 3 (1591) Prince Edward
Lord Clifford

HOUSE OF NEVILLE
Earl of Warwick

DUKE OF YORK’S PARTY
Richard, Duke of York
Edward Later King Edward IV.
Lady Gray
George Plantagenet Later
Duke of Clarence.
Richard Plantagenet Later
Duke of Gloucester, York’s son.
Earl of Rutland York’s son.

THE FRENCH
King Louis
Lady Bona

A fter the Yorkists’ victory
at St. Albans, Henry VI is
forced to make a pledge:
he will remain king, but Richard
of York will become king after
his death. York agrees to this,
but his son Richard Plantagenet
persuades him to break the oath.
War breaks out and Clifford
murders York’s son Rutland. After
the Battle of Wakefield, York is
cornered and Queen Margaret and
Clifford taunt him with Rutland’s
blood before killing him.

York’s sons Edward, Richard,
and George plan their revenge and
are joined, crucially, by Warwick.
Margaret and Clifford, confronted
by the rampant York brothers, try

THE FREELANCE WRITER 41

Confronted by York, Margaret and Henry is captured by Clarence
Henry pledges the Clifford taunt York two gamekeepers in a switches sides
crown to him, if he is with the blood of his forest near Scotland. to the Yorkists.
left to reign in peace. youngest son before

executing him and
mounting his head
on the gates of York.

1.1 1.4 3.1 4.2 Act 5
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 5.5

1.2 2.1 3.3

Egged on by his son Joined by Warwick, Warwick is The York brothers stab
Richard, York York’s sons pledge humiliated at King to death the young
Prince Edward, but
decides to break his their revenge on Louis’ court and refuse to kill Margaret.
oath to Henry and Clifford and the turns against Henry.
seize the crown. Lancastrians. Warwick, Clarence, She is banished to France.

and the armies of
Lancaster march
against Edward.

to rouse Henry to fight. In the Battle between Edward and Louis’ sister, head of his foreign army, Edward is
of Towton, Warwick saves Richard Lady Bona. Just as Louis agrees victorious and reclaims the throne,
from Clifford. Henry laments the to the wedding, news arrives of imprisoning Henry in the Tower.
tragedy of civil war. Clifford is killed, Edward’s marriage to Lady Gray.
the Yorkists are victorious, and Warwick disavows Edward and The Yorkists capture Coventry,
Edward is crowned King Edward IV. joins with Margaret. and Clarence rejoins his brothers.
Warwick flees but is killed. Queen
Henry is captured. In London, In England, Edward learns that Margaret leads an army against the
Edward IV blackmails Lady Gray his brother George, now Duke of Yorkists but is defeated and taken
into a marriage. Richard (now Duke Clarence, has joined Warwick and prisoner. Edward IV, Gloucester, and
of Gloucester), railing against his the Lancastrian forces. Warwick Clarence kill her young son, Edward,
deformities, reveals his ambition to raids Edward’s camp, takes the but refuse to kill Margaret. In the
be king. Meanwhile, Henry has crown from Edward, and makes Tower, Henry taunts the deformed
been sent to the Tower of London. him a prisoner. Henry VI, restored to Gloucester, who kills him and vows
Margaret appeals for help to the power, makes Warwick and Clarence to kill his brothers. Edward IV and
French King Louis and learns that his Protectors. But Edward, with the his queen have a new baby, but
Warwick is arranging a wedding help of Gloucester, escapes. At the Gloucester is already plotting. ❯❯

42 HENRY VI PART 3 H enry VI Part 3 is the last of Why, what is pomp, rule, reign,
Shakespeare’s three plays but earth and dust?
IN CONTEXT about the reign of Henry VI
(1422–61 and 1470–71). It covers the And, live we how we can, yet
THEMES bloodiest period of the Wars of the die we must.
Kingship, revenge, Roses, in which the Yorkist faction
betrayal, civil war, battles gained ascendancy over Henry’s Earl of Warwick
Lancastrians in the battle for the
SETTING throne, and the eldest of the Duke Act 5, Scene 2
London, Yorkshire, of York’s sons snatched the crown
Warwickshire, and various from Henry to become Edward IV. admitting with unwitting irony:
towns around England It ends with the murder of Henry “They prosper best of all when I am
in the Tower of London in 1471 by thence” (2.5.18). But his abdication
SOURCES another son of York, Richard of of responsibility turns him, like the
1513 Thomas More’s History Gloucester, later Richard III. audience, into an appalled spectator
of King Richard III. watching the tragedy unfold. As
Henry VI Part 3 was performed he sits away from the battle on
1545 Edward Halle’s Union of first in about 1591. England was the molehill to which his kingdom
the Two Noble and Illustrious wracked by the violent aftermath of has shrunk, he witnesses the real
Families of Lancaster and Henry VIII’s break from Rome and horror of civil war in the affecting
York, a biased, Tudor-friendly Elizabeth I’s hold on the throne was tableau of a soldier who has killed
account of the events covered still under threat. The depiction of his son and another who has
in the play. leaders cynically playing for power killed his father. He laments, “And
would have struck a chord with let our hearts and eyes, like civil
1587 Raphael Holinshed’s audiences. The Yorkists Edward war, / Be blind with tears, and break,
Chronicles of England, and Richard are portrayed in a o’ercharged with grief” (2.5.77–78).
Scotland, and Ireland. very poor light, while the Earl But there is self-indulgence too
of Richmond, later Henry VII, and when he sighs, “Here sits a king
LEGACY Elizabeth’s grandfather, is praised. more woeful than you are” (2.5.124).
1592 Playwright Robert
Greene makes reference A molehill for a kingdom Henry’s absence allows two
to the play to express his In this vicious world, the weak but characters to dominate the action—
contempt for Shakespeare. well-intentioned Henry is entirely Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and
This indicates that the play lost. When he is banned from the Queen Margaret. Both are seen as
had been performed, although Battle of Towton, he meekly agrees, “monstrous,” freaks of nature that
no records survive. have thrived in the absence of
My Crown is in my heart, normal moral values—Richard,
1595 The play is first not on my head; physically deformed at birth with
published with the title The his “crookback” and shriveled arm,
True Tragedy of Richard Duke Not decked with diamonds and Margaret, unnaturally manly.
of York and the Death of King and Indian stones
Henry the Sixth, with the Henry VI
Whole Contention of the two
Houses Lancaster and York. Act 3, Scene 1

1681 Thomas Crowne stages A tiger’s heart
an adaptation of the play called As Margaret stands exultant over
The Misery of Civil War. Richard of York, handing him a
handkerchief soaked in his son’s
1977 At the Swan Theatre in
Stratford-upon-Avon, Helen
Mirren plays an acclaimed
Margaret as the play receives
a rare, almost-uncut treatment.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 43

Henry VI meditates on the brutality
of civil war, watching son kill father
and father kill son, in this amalgam
of Shakespeare’s works titled Forests,
by Catalan director Calixto Bieito.

the battle, although she could also
be seen as a strong woman who is
protecting a childlike man.

blood, he describes her famously as However, when her own son is The shape-shifter
the “She-wolf of France” (1.4.112)—a killed, she responds with tender, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, will
“tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s motherly outrage: “O Ned, sweet have his own play in Richard III,
hide” (1.4.138). She is an “amazon” Ned—speak to thy mother, boy. / … but his personality emerges here.
who does not behave as women No, no, my heart will burst an if I In a soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 2,
should—“soft, mild, pitiful, and speak; / And I will speak that so my he explains that his character
flexible” (1.4.142). In Shakespeare’s heart may burst…You have no has been shaped by his physical
play, she seems to represent a world children, butchers; if you had, / The deformity. Deprived from birth
turned upside down. While enemies thought of them would have stirred of normal love by his misshapen
describe Margaret in disparaging up remorse” (5.5.50, 58–59, 62–63). body, he has turned himself into a
terms, her strength inspires great In her exasperation at her husband’s Machiavel, a political player who
loyalty among her supporters. weakness, Margaret bans him from sets himself apart from common
humanity. He is interested only
in the tactics that bring the
highest prize, the crown, and
becomes the consummate actor:
“Why, I can smile, and murder
whiles I smile” (3.2.182).

By means of this soliloquy and
other asides, Shakespeare allowed
audiences to join the characters on
their psychological journeys. This
was a new form of stage drama. ■

Revenge in the play Revenge drives much of the action Richard’s sons, Edward,
in this energetic piece—which Gloucester, and Clarence seek to
features no fewer than four battles avenge his death, along with the
(Wakefield, Towton, Barnet, and previously loyal Warwick, who
Tewkesbury), more than any other after suffering a humiliation at
of Shakespeare’s plays. Both the the French court, turns against
Lancastrians and the Yorkists are Henry and joins his enemies.
hungry to wreak vengeance on
the other side to right various Even Gloucester’s ambitions
wrongs that have been committed. for the crown appear to be an
Clifford, in particular, is eaten up urge to even the score for the
with the desire to revenge the unkind treatment he received as
death of his father. Margaret a boy. Near the end of the play,
exults in the murder of Rutland when he kisses King Edward’s
(Richard’s son) by Clifford, only baby, he whispers the ominous
to have to suffer in retaliation the “so Judas kissed his master”
murder of her son before her eyes. (5.7.33), promising more betrayal
and vengeance to come.

44 DRAMATIS
PERSONAE
THIS BRAWL TODAY...
SHALL SEND BETWEEN Henry VI King of England.
THE RED ROSE AND THE
WHITE A THOUSAND Duke of Gloucester Henry’s
SOULS TO DEATH AND uncle and Protector of England.
DEADLY NIGHT
Duke of Bedford Henry’s
HENRY VI PART 1 (1591) uncle and Regent of France.

Bishop of Winchester Later
Cardinal, Henry’s great-uncle.

Duke of Somerset  The
Duke of Exeter’s nephew.

Richard Plantagenet
Later Third Duke of York.

Earls of Warwick,
Salisbury, and Suffolk

Lord Talbot Commander
of English forces in France.

Charles Dauphin of France.

Margaret French noble
betrothed to Henry.

Duke of Burgundy
Henry’s uncle.

Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc)

A t the funeral of Henry V, a
fight breaks out between
the young King Henry VI’s
uncles, Gloucester and Winchester.
Messengers arrive from France.
Town after town has fallen to the
French, and England’s hero Talbot
has been captured. Outside
besieged Orléans, the Dauphin
Charles meets the maid Joan la
Pucelle, whose visions promise
victory for France. Talbot is freed
in a prisoner exchange. The French
triumph over the English. Joan
beats Talbot in a duel but spares
his life. Talbot retakes Orléans.

In the garden of the Temple in
London’s lawyers’ quarter, a quarrel
between Richard Plantagenet and

THE FREELANCE WRITER 45

As rivalries emerge at the Talbot captures Henry pleads with The captured Joan pleads for
funeral of Henry V, news Orléans by stealth. his quarreling her life, saying she should be
The Dauphin Charles spared because of her chastity, but
comes of English blames Joan for her uncles Winchester and she is burned. France sends
defeats in France. Gloucester to make peace overtures to the English.
false prophecy. peace, as their rival
factions are causing
havoc in London.

1.1 2.1 3.1 5.6
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

1.7 2.4 4.1 5.7

In France, In the Temple garden, London, At Henry’s coronation Suffolk conspires to
Lord Talbot is Richard Plantagenet and Suffolk in Paris, he learns of control Henry by telling
astonished to see pick roses of a different color to his uncle Burgundy’s him that he should marry
his troops being mark their rivalry, and the feud
defeated under defection, and Margaret for love.
the leadership between the houses of vicious quarreling
of a woman, Lancaster and York begins. breaks out between
Joan la Pucelle. Lancastrians and

Yorkists.

Somerset ends in them plucking Paris where Henry is to be crowned. Armagnac’s daughter to seal
red and white roses to signify their There, Henry learns of Burgundy’s the deal. The people of Paris
opposing loyalties. Richard’s uncle treachery. He urges York and revolt and Charles and Joan
Mortimer tells him how the king’s Somerset to put aside their quarrel march on Paris. Joan conjures
grandfather, Henry IV, deposed the but unwittingly insults York by spirits to help her cause, but
rightful Richard II, and says that donning a red rose. To repair the the English triumph and Joan is
Richard has a claim to the throne. damage, Henry makes York Regent captured. Suffolk is bewitched by
of France and orders Somerset to the beauty of Margaret of Anjou,
In Parliament, a fight breaks back him. Meanwhile, outside and promises to make her Henry’s
out between the men of Gloucester Bordeaux, Talbot and his son are wife. York condemns Joan to
and Winchester. As King Henry fatally wounded in a battle; Talbot burn as a witch, and rails against
tries to calm them, he agrees to dies with his son’s body in his arms. the “effeminate” peace Henry
make Richard Duke of York. In is making with France. Suffolk
France, Joan takes Rouen from the Gloucester tells the king that excites Henry with his account
English, but Talbot retakes it. Joan the French Earl of Armagnac of Margaret’s beauty and he
persuades Henry’s uncle Burgundy wishes to make peace. Henry agrees to marry her. ❯❯
to switch sides. Talbot travels to agrees, and is persuaded to marry

46 HENRY VI PART 1 E vidence suggests that After defeating him in hand-to-hand
Henry VI Part 1 was written combat, Joan la Pucelle (Katy Stephens)
IN CONTEXT after the second two parts spares the life of Lord Talbot (Keith
of the Henry VI trilogy, and staged, Bartlett) in a 2006 production
THEMES to great acclaim, for the first time in at the Courtyard Theatre, London.
Battle, kingship, family 1592. So it is essentially a prequel,
ties, civil war setting the events of the later two picks a white rose, suggesting
plays in context. It is grand in that he thinks Richard’s case is
SETTING scale, encompassing England strong in law. Challenged to make
London, Paris, Orleans, and France with sweeping battle his case, Somerset replies that his
Auvergne, and Angiers scenes and thrilling hand-to-hand argument is his sword. The scene
duels, while the other two parts is set for the Wars of the Roses.
SOURCES are more narrowly focused.
1516 Some scenes were Against this civil conflict, the
inspired by Robert Fabyan’s The death of the heroic Henry V maid of Orléans, Joan la Pucelle,
New Chronicle of England leaves English rule in France in known today as Joan of Arc,
and France. chaos, as the new king, Henry VI, emerges to lead the French with
still little more than a child, finds her divine visions. She is pitted
1545 Edward Halle’s Union himself unable to quell the quarrels against a worthy English hero in
of the Two Noble and at home. At first, the strife is Talbot, who at the end is failed
Illustrious Families of between his uncles Gloucester and by his quarreling countrymen.
Lancaster and York. Winchester over who should be his
protector. But conflict soon erupts
1577 Raphael Holinshed’s between the supporters of the
Chronicles of England, Lancastrian faction led by Somerset
Scotland, and Ireland. and the Yorkists led by Richard
Plantagenet (who secretly believes
LEGACY the throne is rightfully his). Each
1592 The play is a huge faction chooses a rose for its emblem:
success when it is first white for York; red for Lancaster.
staged at the Rose Theatre. The play presents this choice in a
scene in the Inner Temple garden
1738 The first recorded in London, in which Richard
performance following Plantagenet asks the assembled
Shakespeare’s death takes lords to pluck a rose. The lawyer
place at Covent Garden,
London. Several dance Break thou in pieces, Dubious authorship
sequences are added. and consume to ashes, Because of the variable quality
of the verse, critics have long
1873 Henry VI Part 1 is Thou foul accursèd questioned the play’s authorship.
performed in Vienna. minister of hell. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge
was certain Shakespeare could not
1906 British director Frank Richard, Duke of York have written it, or at least not all
Benson stages all three of it. Many critics now think it was
Henry VIs without changing Act 5, Scene 6 a collaborative work with writers
any of them, the first time this such as Thomas Nashe, who
has been done since the 1590s. perhaps wrote Act 1. Computer

1990 Director Michael
Bogdanov releases a film of
all three Henry VI plays,
recorded on consecutive
nights at the Grand
Theatre, Swansea.

THE FREELANCE WRITER 47

analysis of language patterns How say you, madam? makes her entrance. When the
suggest that, while Shakespeare Are you now persuaded Henry VI plays are performed
probably wrote Henry VI Part 2 and That Talbot is but a shadow together, the same actress
most of Part 3, he was the author of sometimes plays both Joan and
only some of Part 1—the Temple of himself? Margaret to underscore the point
garden scene, and the scene in Talbot that they are part of the same
Act 4 between Talbot and his son. danger, although Margaret, Henry’s
Act 2, Scene 3 future queen, is very different. While
Early commentators, such Joan dresses as a man to win her
as the English playwright Ben who cause chaos by their effect on battles, Margaret remains womanly
Jonson, criticized Henry VI Part 1 men and on proper relationships. on the outside and her power comes
for its crowd-pleasing battle In the first four acts, Joan is mostly from her sexual allure. Suffolk, the
scenes. Jonson insisted that, in a portrayed as a holy visionary, but in earl who enticed Henry with
proper literary play, such battles Act 5, she morphs into the witch, Margaret’s charms, closes the play
would have been created in the conjuring up demons. She engages with the promise that: “Margaret
imagination with skillful use of with York to beg for her life with shall now be queen and rule the
words, not crude stage techniques. hysterical ferocity and wild curses King; / But I will rule both her,
However, over the last half century, (understandable, perhaps, when the King, and realm” (5.7.107–108).
critics have rediscovered in the she is about to be burned alive).
play some of the excitement and But Suffolk is deluded. He likens
political sharpness that would have Some directors have noticed himself to Paris, who elopes with
engaged audiences in 1592. that the very moment one femme the beautiful Helen to Troy. But it
fatale, Joan, leaves the center of the is a telling choice. Like Helen,
Family crisis action, another, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret will only bring strife,
At the heart of the play lies and Suffolk is banished and
the importance of family as the gruesomely beheaded. ■
glue that binds society together.
After all, claims to be the rightful An illustration from a 15th-century
king—claims that foment the French manuscript shows Joan of Arc
terrible strife to come between leading the siege of Paris in 1429. It
the Yorkists and Lancastrians— suited the play’s anti-French politics to
hinge on proper family relationships. portray Joan as a demon-invoking witch.
But it goes further than that.
Familial bonds, such as the deep
bond between Talbot and his son,
are fundamental— and when these
are lost, society is set adrift.
Legitimacy is crucial. Gloucester
emphasizes that Winchester is the
“bastard of my grandfather,” while
Talbot inveighs against the “bastard
Orléans” who killed his trueborn
son. The play omits Talbot’s real-life
illegitimate son, Henry, who also
died in the same battle. Political
crisis emerges from a crisis in the
family. Some critics argue that this
is why the women in Henry VI
are so negatively portrayed—
Joan la Pucelle, Margaret, and
the Countess of Auvergne are all
presented as dangerous women

WHY THERE THEY ARE BOTH

BAKED

IN THIS PIE

TITUS ANDRONICUS (1591–1592)